Sonic Springs and Race Tech Emulators intall

[glib]

Excited to finally be getting some nice suspension mods. I recently disconnected by anti-dive and got steel braided lines and now I've put in Sonic Springs and Race Tech Emulators. The job is not buttoned up yet but here's what I've done so far.

Here is the bottom of the stock damper:

Stock damper by Gary L, on Flickr

For the uninitiated, the bottoming cone (described as the “oil lock” in the parts fiche) traps the fork fluid so that it has to go through the anti-dive units to travel in and out of the damper. I marked the damper so that I could email the pic to Race Tech to make sure I was doing this step correctly. (Then he showed me where to find an example on their website).

This shows the placement of the bottoming cone and washers.

stock damper marked for first bypass hole by Gary L, on Flickr

Drilling 1/4" holes like this bypasses the anti-dive completely and allowed me to make some simple and quick anti-dive block offs that don't require a fluid passage. EDIT: MODIFYING TO INCLUDE FLUID RELIEF PASSAGE AT ANTI-DIVE IN ADDITION TO THESE BYPASS HOLES.

Modified damper w anti dive bypass holes by Gary L, on Flickr



ThankPlacement of top out cone and washers by Gary L, on Flickr

This is how I decided to do my anti-dive relief. Plenty of metal to remove although if you mess up it’s a bit more serious than starting with a new little piece of aluminum.

C012283C-406C-4BAF-9A7E-50B4DC5179F9 by Gary L, on Flickr

And with the forks back on the bike and my FREE block off plates! I made them from a piece of aluminum I had lying around. Not perfect but decent.
I have already measured the spacers for spring pre-load but I still have to do the fluid. I forgot to take pics of the emulators but they look just like they do on Race Techs site. I checked the pre-load and dropped them in. Here is what my block off plates look like:

Home made anti-dive block off by Gary L, on FlickrPlacement of top out cone and washers by Gary L, on Flickr

 

[sharpy]

dont those block off plates have a good relief on the inside so oil lows freely

 

[glib]

dont those block off plates have a good relief on the inside so oil lows freely

If you don’t modify the damper rod with four 1/4” holes (3rd pic) then you would need a channel or relief to allow the oil to flow around the “top-out cone.” But the holes above the top-out cone bypass the antidive system completely. EDIT: NOT COMPLETELY ENOUGH APPARENTLY. RACETECH DOES RECOMMEND THE RELIEF IN ADDITION TO THE HOLES OVER THE TOP OUT CONE.

Upon compression, fluid is pressed down around the outside of the damping rod. In the stock system, it is forced through the anti-dive units and into the holes under the top-out cone. Once the holes above the top-out cone are drilled, the fluid passes through them instead of being forced down to the anti-dive. It is them damped by the adjustable emulators which sit on top of the damping rod.

For those not familiar with emulators, if you were to drill those holes without adding the emulators, it would be like having springs without shocks—the emulators are the key to the mod. Just want to be clear.

 

[dorkburger]

Timely post for me. I should be getting a set of already modded forks for my 1150 with emulators and Sonic springs installed so I've been wondering about the PDF units (1150 anti dives are not brake actuated).
Racetech's site shows the anti dives as staying or the block off plate having a crossover port, although the forks shown were GSXR I think. I'll ask the seller for specifics when the time comes.

 

[glib]

Timely post for me. I should be getting a set of already modded forks for my 1150 with emulators and Sonic springs installed so I've been wondering about the PDF units (1150 anti dives are not brake actuated).
Racetech's site shows the anti dives as staying or the block off plate having a crossover port, although the forks shown were GSXR I think. I'll ask the seller for specifics when the time comes.

Oops. Good reminder. My info is for my bikes--1983 GS1100E/ES.

Also I have a call in to RaceTech because I'm seeing some info on their sight that is conflicting with my phone conversation with their tech.

 

[glib]

dont those block off plates have a good relief on the inside so oil lows freely

So I had to correct my post and provide the relief channel. Whether it is for additional flow or just to have some flow at the bottom of the damper I don't know.

 

[dorkburger]

Thanks for the update. I recall some time back that Salty Monk noted that he tried both ways on his 750 and there was a difference. Don't remember the details though.

 

[Fjbj40]

I did the sonic springs and emulators this fall, all I can say is different fell al together, WAY better!

I am in the process of Sonic Spring and Racetech Gold Valve install on my GS1000 with Bandit 1200 front end right now.

 

[bobtail84]

I have a pair of racetech emulators ready to install. I am using Hagon progressive front springs at the moment and when I install the emulators I will have to recalculate the pre load but that's a minor detail if the improvement is as good as reported.

 

[RichDesmond]

I have a pair of racetech emulators ready to install. I am using Hagon progressive front springs at the moment and when I install the emulators I will have to recalculate the pre load but that's a minor detail if the improvement is as good as reported.

If your sag numbers are good now just shorten the spacer by the height of the emulator.

 

[dorkburger]

Hey Rich,
I'm likely going to have a few questions for you in the near future.
I have a set of 1150 forks on the way to me already modded with Gold Valves and 1.1 Sonic springs.
Are the spings going to be the correct weight? Bike is an 85 1150es, I'm around 165 in full riding gear.
I have the oil level written down somewhere and need to read more into setting the sag.
I also plan to ask the seller info on how the valves were set up - weight, riding style, etc...

 

[RichDesmond]

Hey Rich,
I'm likely going to have a few questions for you in the near future.
I have a set of 1150 forks on the way to me already modded with Gold Valves and 1.1 Sonic springs.
Are the spings going to be the correct weight? Bike is an 85 1150es, I'm around 165 in full riding gear.
I have the oil level written down somewhere and need to read more into setting the sag.
I also plan to ask the seller info on how the valves were set up - weight, riding style, etc...

Might want to bulk up a little, the 1.1s are on the stiff side for your weight. Sorrento's and Federici's can help you out.

Seriously, you would be better off with 0.95s or 1.0s, but I'd be more concerned about the damping setup. If he had 1.1 springs in there that tells me he's a bigger guy, and if the damping was setup correctly for him it will be stiff for you. You'll feel that more than the spring rate.
On the emulators, I'd want to know what color spring is on them, and how many turns of preload. On the damper rod, how were the compression holes drilled out, and was the rebound hole closed or modded.
Oil level isn't critical, anything in the 120-130mm range is fine. They probably have 15w in there, you may want to go to 10w, depending on the rest of the setup.

Ping me when you get the rest of the info.

 

[dorkburger]

Funny I misspoke. Seller states they are 1kg which I guess to be 1.0.
When I get them I?ll check it out. Thanks.

 

[RichDesmond]

Funny I misspoke. Seller states they are 1kg which I guess to be 1.0.
When I get them I’ll check it out. Thanks.

That's good, makes it more likely that setup will be usable either as is or with minor tweaking. Still try to get all that info and we'll go from there.

 

[Fjbj40]

Might want to bulk up a little, the 1.1s are on the stiff side for your weight. Sorrento's and Federici's can help you out.

Seriously, you would be better off with 0.95s or 1.0s, but I'd be more concerned about the damping setup. If he had 1.1 springs in there that tells me he's a bigger guy, and if the damping was setup correctly for him it will be stiff for you. You'll feel that more than the spring rate.
On the emulators, I'd want to know what color spring is on them, and how many turns of preload. On the damper rod, how were the compression holes drilled out, and was the rebound hole closed or modded.
Oil level isn't critical, anything in the 120-130mm range is fine. They probably have 15w in there, you may want to go to 10w, depending on the rest of the setup.

Ping me when you get the rest of the info.

Rich, he says the forks have Gold Valves, they don't have a spring, like emulators. They have shims that you stack to vary the valveing of the cartridge, see here for an example http://www.vstrom.info/Smf/index.php?topic=2494.0 .

I just installed a set in my Bandit forks on my 1000 along with a set of your .95 springs, gonna have to wait till spring to try them though .

Glen, you will have to contact Racetech for valveing stack-up, or see if the fellow you bought them from has the original paperwork as it comes with a code you may be able to use to use their calculator. Or maybe just try here http://www.racetech.com/dvs/

 

[dorkburger]

Hmmm. I thought they were the same thing... They are coming from a member (TxGSrider) here who has been great to deal with. I’ll find out what I can from him when I get them. Tracking says they will arrive tomorrow.

 

[Guest]

um....interesting to see how this pans out re: shims vs springs etc.....to my knowledge no gs forks use cartridge type forks, but i am no expert....

 

[RichDesmond]

Rich, he says the forks have Gold Valves, they don't have a spring, like emulators. They have shims that you stack to vary the valveing of the cartridge, see here for an example http://www.vstrom.info/Smf/index.php?topic=2494.0 .

I just installed a set in my Bandit forks on my 1000 along with a set of your .95 springs, gonna have to wait till spring to try them though .

Glen, you will have to contact Racetech for valveing stack-up, or see if the fellow you bought them from has the original paperwork as it comes with a code you may be able to use to use their calculator. Or maybe just try here http://www.racetech.com/dvs/

I'm pretty sure the forks will have emulators in them, given that the stock forks are the damper rod style. While there are a few people who have retrofit actual cartridges into damper rod forks they generally use OEM cartridges from a modern sport bike, I'm not aware of anyone doing that with Race Tech Gold Valves.

Glen, many people get confused with the terms. Technically the Gold Valves are replacement cartridges for forks that already have them, while Gold Valve Emulators (GVEs) are a completely different device, designed for damper rod forks, that somewhat emulates the action of a cartridge shim stack with a blowoff valve. There are two ways of tuning the GVEs, by either changing the amount of preload on the spring that holds down the blowoff valve, or by changing the spring itself to a different rate. Race-tech makes 3 different rates, I think.
The GVEs only work on the compression side, so the basic strategy is to dial in the rebound damping via oil weight, and then tune the compression damping to suit with the GVE.

 

[dorkburger]

Makes sense, thanks.

 

[TxGSrider]

Hey Glen,
They are the Gold Valve Emulators, and I don't remember what I had set the turns at (I set them to whatever the Racetech instructions suggested). I used 15wt oil and drilled and chamfered the damper rods per the instructions. I left the antidive stuff on the forks as I didn't have anything to block the holes.

I think I overfilled the fork level, so double check that, and you might find a couple bucks worth of quarters in the forks that I used to fine tune the ride height (sag). So think of them as an "Instant Rebate".-lol!

I always felt they were a little over dampened, so you might follow Rich's suggestion and use a 10wt fork oil instead.